One
by Tewi
Summary: A look into the relationships of friends and brother's and a look into the future from Splinter's eyes. An odd type of character study.


Decided I needed to write some more so I took up one of the SS fic challenges. This one's based off a poem that's perfect for a death fic but the request was that it wasn't death, (horror, or tragedy). So here's my attempt at a happy story off this poem.

Italicized lines are the poem lines.

Disclaimer: Yeah. Right.

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_Shatter the glass with sparkles of brilliance and light,_

Donatello was sitting on the couch, head down and T.V. off. Michelangelo was sitting at the kitchen table, chips forgotten, watching his downtrodden brother. Donatello had been sitting in the same position for over six hours now. Mikey was, quite frankly, wondering what the heck had happened. There had been no crashes from inside Don's lab and no one had bugged him at all today. So what the heck was wrong with Don!?

Deciding it was finally time for action Mikey hefted up his bulk and dragged the chips over to the couch, plopping down on the couch right next to Donnie. He sighed. Don didn't respond. He sighed louder. Donnie still didn't move. He sighed overly dramatic and very loud in an exaggerated way. Donatello still didn't act like he heard Mikey's attempts at getting him to respond.

"Fine. Fine. Just be like that."

Still no response.

"Donnie!"

Nothing.

"C'mon, buddy. I'm speakin' here."

Not even a blink of an eye.

Mikey's face twitched. If Raph was this good at ignoring him…well; it wouldn't be as fun around here. A lot more boring and a lot quieter. Michelangelo couldn't help but shudder at the thought. Leaving the thought behind Mike turned his attention back to Donatello.

Mikey leaned in close, definitely invading Don's personal bubble. He leaned in until his lips were almost touching where Don's ear would have been – if they had visible ears.

"GLARGLE!"

"AHHH!" Don jumped to his feet. "MIKEY! What the shell was that for!?" Don screamed at Mikey, only calming down a bit near the end.

"Dude! I've been trying to get your attention _forever_. And you know why? You've been sittin' here for _longer_ than forever."

"…Oh. Sorry Mikey, what did you want?"

"What do I want? What do I want!? You've been sitting in the same position for over six hours and you're asking what I want. Dude. I'll never understand you."

"I have? Oh. Well I was just, uh, thinking. Yeah."

"Uh, yeah, that, uh, sounds true. NOT! I mean; what's up your butt dude?"

"Nothing."

"Fine, fine. Whatever. Don't let your awesome, fantastic, super cute baby brother help you."

"Mikey…"

"No, no. No trying to make it up to me now."

"Mikey-"

"Well…okay! You can totally play Frogger with me!"

"Mikey! I never said-"

Mikey's lip quivered and his eyes went into first stage, first-degree puppy dog eyeness. "But…but…but…" He threw a sniff in for good measure. "Fine. That's okay Donnie. I don't mind. I'll just play alone…again. All by myself. With no one else." Seeing Donnie was about to give in he kicked his puppy dog eyes up to first stage, second-degree puppy dog eyeness. "You know…_alone_."

Donnie sighed. "Fine Mikey. Let's play Frogger."

And they did. For over six hours. Mikey never did find out what had made Donnie act like he was in a state of catatonia. But that was never what he was trying to do. While playing such a ridiculous video game for so long the two brothers had teased each other into oblivion and ate whatever was nearest. Almost all of it was food. Much laughter rang out through the lair and a little more than halfway through their game Donnie had forgotten what had been bugging him. And when he finally did remember it didn't seem as big and he dealt with it very calmly, with kind thoughts toward his youngest brother.

_Thou shan't not be torn, the brothers must fight,_

Leonardo watched from above as Mikey very successfully cheered up his purple-banded brother. His legs dangled over the edge of the second level. He was very thankful that Mikey had finally gone over. He himself had been planning a course of action but he doubted it would have been half as successful as Mikey's forget-it-and-smile-now plan.

"Whatchya doing, Fearless?"

Leo jumped. He had been so wrapped up in watching two of his younger brothers he hadn't heard Raphael coming up at all. In fact, Leo thought that Raph had been out with Casey.

"Watching Mikey work his magic." All he got in return was a quizzical glance in return. "Never mind. What's up?"

"Nothin'. Wanna go for a run topside or somethin'?"

Leo was going to turn him down, but rarely was Raph in a good enough mood to even ask such a thing. "Sure. Where at?"

"Eh. Wherever the wind takes us," Raph replied, a sly smile on his beak.

Leo laughed. "Sounds good." He stood up and both he and Raph flipped off the second flight, making towards the door. Not wanting to leave without any warning but not wanting to take the time to be responsible Leo yelled out, "Me and Raph are going out. Be back…sometime!"

"Nice Leo. Real responsible there."

"Well, I didn't want you leaving without me!"

"Ha! I'm about to leave you behind!"

Before Leonardo could reply his brother Raph had shot off down the sewer tunnels. A challenge then. Accepting, Leo grinned and sprinted down the tunnel after his younger brother. Raphael was not without racing honor and ran a bit slower, till Leo got his start. Then Raph took off for real, practically jumping up the first manhole he saw, and heading towards the rooftops. He just loved running at night. It was especially therapeutic when it had a purpose.

Deciding splitting up this early was stupid Leo took the same path, not sure if Raph had a specific destination in mind. Easily keeping up with Raph but staying behind him anyway he called out to Raphael.

"Slow going bro?"

"Hey, you're behind me!"

Leo dashed ahead so he was even with Raph. "You were saying?"

Raph growled playfully and hit an extra burst of speed. Leo did the same, this time running ahead of Raph. They took turns taking first place, and it seemed as if all was well. Until the next time it was Raph's turn. This time Leonardo decided to take their little racing game a step further. When Raph was right behind him he stepped it up, staying ahead of Raphael. He kept this up for five minutes, before Raph finally got tired of losing.

"God Leo! What the shell is wrong with you!?"

Leo stopped as suddenly as Raph had and wheeled around to face him. "What?"

"What was wrong with what we just had going on? I was actually having a good time. With you, Leo, with you! But you have to go and ruin it by doing something stupid like this!"

Leo might have been confused about this seemingly random burst of rage had his second youngest brother not had a bad temper, and if they hadn't been cooped up in the lair for longer than they usually were, except for small trips to the surface, for a month now. He should have known not to push it. But that was past now, and now he had to try and fix it.

"Sorry Raph. Thought we could just pick it up a notch."

"You know what? You kick it up by yourself. I'm gonna…you know what else? You don't need to know!" Raph whirled around and made ready to leave.

"Have fun bashing heads with Casey."

Raph turned a critical eye on the eldest turtle, thought about punching him in his all-knowing mouth, decided against it, and quickly flipped down the fire escape, leaving Leo to stand there wondering why they couldn't seem to get along for more than two hours at a time.

Tomorrow they would not speak of this and yet, all would be well. A small bit of tension would be in the air, but there was almost also tension in the air with the two brothers in the same room.

Finally, Leo moved, and slowly made his way down the same fire escape Raph had hastily jumped down just moments earlier. Leo pulled up the manhole cover and took his time getting home. He didn't blame Raph and he was sure Raph didn't blame him. After all, Raph had invited him along on the run. And Leo had accepted.

_And though hearts and spirits unite as one, _

Raph made quick work of the distance between the rooftop he and Leo had been occupying and Casey's small, messy, and smelly apartment. So comfortable with his best bud, Raph didn't even bother to knock at the window or to announce himself to Casey as he entered the apartment.

"Man, this is messier than last time I was here. What the shell happened here, a hurricane?"

"Rr…Raph?"

"Casey!?" Raph quickly made his way over to the dingy kitchen. "Oh geez."

"Urgh…" Casey moaned and Raph kicked back into action, kneeling next to his best friend and covering his leg, which seemed to be a place where blood was pouring out of in a great exuberance.

"Hold on Case. Hold on," Raphael was starting to panic, but hiding it well. He worked his red bandana off and held it down on Casey's wound. "What the heck did you do, man?" Casey didn't answer. "C'mon bud. Stay with me here!"

"Wha…"

"_What_ did you do?"

"When?"

"To your leg, moron."

"Oh."

"…So?"

"Righ'. I…I wuz ou' an' there were these Purple. Purple. Purple."

"Purple Dragons."

"Yeah. Was'n' quick 'nough."

"What about your apartment?"

"Wha?"

"Why's it so messy?"

"Oh. Hadda date wit Ape. Cou…couldn' fin' my tie."

"You own a tie?"

While Raph was busy applying pressure to Casey's leg and trying to keep him awake, Leo had finally reached the lair. He and Raph had gone pretty far, running as fast as they had. He made his way over to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. Mikey and Don were still playing video games. Though they had moved on from Frogger and were now playing some form of Mario.

After a few moments an odd feeling entered the air. Leo came to stand behind the couch, Mikey and Don's controllers going loose in their limp hands. All three were silent for just a moment, reaching a decision but needing no words. Something didn't feel right.

"Raph went to Casey's. Let's check there first."

Mikey and Don nodded and both left to retrieve their shell cells and weapons. Already having both on his person, Leo went to tell Splinter that, once again, he was going out and would, hopefully, be back soon. Within forty-five seconds the three were on their way to Casey's, staying silent to conserve energy. Just in case.

The extreme level of tenseness in the air followed them from the lair all the way over to Casey's apartment. With the bad feeling in the air the brother's ran faster than usual and arrived at Casey's quicker than they ever had before. Careful of the mess on the ground, none of them sure if it would eat them or not – except Mikey; who felt comfortable in this type of environment, they entered the apartment and immediately made their way towards the kitchen.

Raphael was still busy keeping Casey awake. And Casey was adamant on being the most forgetful person on Earth, practically asking 'wha' to every question Raph asked. The bleeding had pretty much stopped, and Raph's bandana was a different shade of red. Raph knew that his brother's had arrived, but it wasn't like any greetings were really needed.

Don went over and kneeled down beside Raph, taking over. Raph's hand slipped under Don's. Donatello gave Raph a nod of approval as Raph held up Casey's head and kept him talking. Leo looked over the situation and went to call April. They would wait till she arrived to call an ambulance. Michelangelo stood over Raph and grabbed his shoulder in comfort.

It took April less time than it had taken Raph's brother's to get there. She rushed in – having been given her own key quite a while ago – and knelt next to Casey, worry written all over her face. Her face was red and puffy and she reached out to stroke Casey's face with a trembling hand.

"How are you," April took over for Raph, though for the purpose of knowing Casey was really going to be okay.

"Ape, babe?"

"Yeah?"

While boyfriend and girlfriend struck up stimulating conversation Leonardo called an ambulance. When they all finally heard the sirens the four brother's silently stood up, gave their two friends a smile and a nod, and snuck out the window to the roof. April held Casey's hand tighter, trying to give Casey some of her strength as the paramedics loaded him up onto the stretcher, and they all made the ride to the hospital.

Knowing April would call them when she had news about Casey's leg and when and if it was safe to sneak into his room the four watched the ambulance drive away. Finally Raph moved. He started back in the direction of the lair and the other's followed. Lame jokes were made on the way back to the lair. And with each lame joke they all walked slower, thinking that the slower they got back to the lair the less time they would have to wait there for a call. Even though they all knew Casey would be fine.

_Forevermore,_

By the time the call had come Mikey had been asleep on the couch for five hours and Don had wandered over to his lab to start a new project that had come to him while they were rushing over to Casey's. Raph sat on the couch, flipping the T.V. channels too quick to really catch what was on. Leonardo was currently sitting in the kitchen, keeping an eye over Raphael.

BRING! BRING!

Raph jumped out of his seat, half out of being startled, and half out of finally getting some news. Leo moved closer to the phone and Mikey sat up, confused as to what interrupted his beauty sleep. Don peeked out of his lab, grease smearing his face and screwdriver in hand.

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay, yeah. Thanks, April."

Raph turned around to find all of his brother's anxiously staring at him. "Bonehead's perfectly fine. He's got a bunch of staples but April's with him now, waiting for him to wake up?"

"Can we see him?"

"April said he'll be home tomorrow. They really only let him stay cause he was so tired, and they want to make sure nothing else is wrong. But April said we should just come to see him at his apartment tomorrow."

Finally getting some closure they were free to get Casey off their mind. Mikey groaned about needing his beauty sleep because he worked hard for his good looks, Raph finally made his way to his hammock, Don went on to work on his project some more, and Leo to the dojo to meditate before he went to sleep.

_In the end_

The next day came quickly for the turtles. Once they were up and morning training was over though, the day went by _vee-eery_ slowly. Around noon the phone rang again. Raph, unsurprisingly – Casey was his best bud, after all – was the one to answer this phone call too.

"Hey. Is he- Mmmm. Okay, yeah. Thanks."

Raphael turned around and there were his brothers staring comically at him, waiting for an answer. Raph grinned at them and shook his head, as if he himself hadn't been waiting for the call.

"They just got to April's. She said the bonehead is up – if we want to come see him."

Again, no words were needed. Leo went to go tell Splinter they were going to see Casey; just to see with their own eyes that Casey really was okay. Mikey went to stuff his mouth a bit before they left…even though he had just eaten a full lunch…and snack…and brunch…and another snack. (What? He was hungry today!) Raph stood around the door, impatiently waiting for his brothers to finish. Don went to grab some papers and one of his newer devices that he wanted to discuss with April. Within three minutes and twenty-two seconds the four brothers were out the door.

_There would be left_

As soon as April got off the phone with Raph she turned on Casey. Her – as Raph would put it – bonehead boyfriend. Oh how he made her mad sometimes. Seeing her face Casey gave his girlfriend a lopsided grin. April wasn't impressed.

"Casey Jones! What in the world were you thinking!?"

"Babe, I-"

"Oh, don't give me that!"

"Well, th-"

"And don't give me some lame excuse! I just want to know what in the world you were thinking!"

"If you wou-"

"Oh, that's right! YOU WEREN'T!"

"Hey, I-"

"You! Ugh! I can't believe you!"

"…"

"Don't you have _anything_ to say for yourself!?"

"You were-"

"Ugh," April threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the room and into the kitchen.

The extremely confused Casey could hear the sounds of the coffee starting. He had noticed she drank coffee to calm herself down. As odd as that was. He shrugged it off, propped his feet up, and turned her T.V. on, quickly flipping through what channels she did have. You'd think with her brains she'd have more channels than she did…

It wasn't too much longer until Leo, Don, Raph, and Mike showed up at April's place. To be polite Leo knocked lightly on April's window, then opened the window and stepped in. His brother's followed suit and all eyes immediately went to Casey.

A smile broke out on Raph's face as he went over to slap his buddy on the back and tease him about his injury. April stepped out of the kitchen and smiled at Don. She beckoned him into the kitchen – for the coffee wasn't finished yet. Don said something unimportant to Casey and followed April into the kitchen. Mikey jumped over the couch and stole the remote from Casey, joining in on the game of make-fun-of-Casey-till-he-attacks. Leo shook his head and smiled at his brother's antics. He took the seat furthest from the rowdy group, decided that April and Don needed some privacy in the kitchen. (But really; he just didn't want to feel stupid when he didn't understand anything coming out of the two geniuses mouths.)

_But merely one._

Splinter lit his last candle, basking in the dim glow of the flickering light. He settled into a position his old bones knew well and began meditation. The odd and uneven flickering of the candle played off of Splinter's controlled breathing and the even in and out movement of his chest. Thoughts floated in his mind and were just as quickly released. But one thought stuck in the back of his mind, never leaving. The one thought that haunted him through the day, and gave him comfort through the night.

'One day,' he thought, 'I will be gone.' But that thought was quickly debated as his mind gave him a bit of common sense, and fatherly pride. 'And that day,' he also thought, 'they will be fine. My sons can survive on their own.'

After all; he had not come out of his room for a week now. And for that same amount of time, he had given his sons no advice or help.

'Yes,' he thought, for the last time that day, 'they will be _more_ than fine.' And a smile, graced his old, furry, meditating lips.

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Umm…not really sure where this came from and what exactly it's supposed to mean. Oh well. I think it came out pretty good. Except…I _may_ have over done the italics…and commas. What do you think?


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